Terminal of the Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai (AFP Photo) / AFP

Almost 40 BA passengers, including disabled children, were told they could have to wait eight days for a flight home to London, after their connecting flight from Goa was delayed and many slept in the airport for a second night Sunday.

Thirty-eight holiday makers had flown from Goa to Mumbai on an
internal air India flight which had been delayed, but their
connecting British Airways (BA) flight to London didn’t wait for
them and they missed their connection.

Passengers were then told by BA staff they could face an
eight-day wait to get a flight home because there was no space on
earlier BA flights.

Some of the passengers have shelled out up to £5,000 ($7,603) to
get home, while others spent two nights sleeping on the airport
floor.

Passengers took to social media to voice their discontent,
reporting a shouting match between British Airways and Indian
officials over who was to blame.

“No response from British Airways yet and BA staff in Mumbai
airport just went home. Desperate for help and sanity here,”
Tia Fisher, one of the passengers, tweeted.

A spokesman for British Airways insisted that all passengers
would be booked onto other flights to get them home as quickly as
possible.

“In order to get them on their way as quickly as possible we
have booked a number of customers onto flights with other
airlines, and we are working to rebook those remaining on to the
next available flights,” he told The Independent.